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Dogs and All about Them
·
Robert Leighton
174
It
is
only
comparatively
recently
that
we
have
realised
how
excellent
an
all-around
sporting
dog
the
Retriever
has
become.
In
many
cases,
indeed,
where
grouse
and
partridge
are
driven
or
walked-up
a
well-broken,
soft-mouthed
Retriever
is
unquestionably
superior
to
Pointer,
Setter,
or
Spaniel,
and
for
general
work
in
the
field
he
is
the
best
companion
that
a
shooting
man
can
possess.
Doubtless
in
earlier
days,
when
the
art
of
training
was
less
thoroughly
understood,
the
breaking
of
a
dog
was
a
matter
of
infinite
trouble
to
breeders.
Most
of
the
gun
dogs
could
be
taught
by
patience
and
practice
to
retrieve
fur
or
feather,
but
game
carefully
and
skilfully
shot
is
easily
rendered
valueless
by
being
mumbled
and
mauled
by
powerful
jaws
not
schooled
to
gentleness.
And
this
question
of
a
tender
mouth
was
certainly
one
of
the
problems
that
perturbed
the
minds
of
the
originators
of
the
breed.
The
difficulty
was
overcome
by
process
of
selection,
and
by
the
exclusion
from
breeding
operations
of
all
hard-mouthed
specimens,
with
the
happy
effect
that
in
the
present
time
it
is
exceptional
to
find
a
working
Retriever
who
does
not
know
how
to
bring
his
bird
to
hand
without
injuring
it.
A
better
knowledge
of
what
is
expected
of
him
distinguishes
our
modern
Retriever.
He
knows
his
duty,
and
is
intensely
eager
to
perform
it,
but
he
no
longer
rushes
off
unbidden
at
the
firing
of
the
gun.
He
has
learned
to
remain
at
heel
until
he
is
ordered
by
word
or
gesture
from
his
master,
upon
whom
he
relies
as
his
friend
and
director.
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